1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the provision of communications services using terminal devices that have adjustable audio controls.
2. Discussion of the Background
Users of personal computers (PCs) and other general purpose digital computing devices have been able to engage in voice communications using these devices for many years. One example of software for enabling PC-to-PC communication over the Internet is the SpeakFreely shareware which has been available since 1991. More recently, refined commercial grade products have emerged such as those offered by VocalTec, Net2Phone, Netspeak, and many others. By utilizing the Internet or other packet switched networks, such products have given rise to convergent voice and data solutions as well as created the potential for commercial applications in the realm of e-commerce.
The assignee of the present application, eStara Inc., has addressed some of the limitations of these solutions by inventing methods for installing and initializing media applications using a “thin client” model. These methods are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/272,139, entitled “Public Web Phone System,” Ser. No. 09/637,805, entitled “Universal Internet Based Telephony System That Provides Ubiquitous Access For Subscribers From Any Terminal Device,” and Ser. No. 09/771,993, entitled “Internet Telephony for e-Commerce.” The contents of each of these applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference. These methods and processes created a particular opportunity for enabling PC users to make contact with call centers operated by merchants associated with a web site by clicking on icons displayed on web pages. The resulting voice connections link a PC user and a call center agent who may be using either a telephone or a voice-over-Internet enabled computer device.
In Internet telephony situations, the microphone and speakers of the end user's terminal device function like a telephone handset. In contrast to the typical telephone handset, however, the terminal device's microphone and speaker settings (such as volume control, tone, and muting) and echo cancellation/suppression features (collectively referred to herein as media settings), may not be optimized for a two-way or multi-party voice conversation. The quality of sound experienced by the person at the other end of the connection is affected by media control settings on the originating multimedia customer terminal device. Many casual users are not aware of the means to adjust these settings or may not know what settings are most conducive to a voice conversation. This is especially true in the e-commerce situation described above.
What is needed is a method to optimize media settings on an end-user terminal for Internet (or other data packet network) telephony.